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COMMUNITY RELATIONS NOVEMBER 20, 2013 5:15 P.M. <br />Committee Members Present: Oliver Davis, Valerie Schey, Tim Scott, Dr. David Varner <br />Other Council Present: Henry Davis, Dr. Fred Ferlic, Karen White, Derek Dieter, Gavin <br />Ferlic <br />Citizen Members Present: James Burns, Alfred Gillespie <br />Others Present: See sign -in sheet <br />Agenda: City Cemetery Restoration Project <br />Community Relations Chair Oliver Davis opened the meeting with roundtable introductions allowing <br />everyone to state not only their name; but also their particular area of interest. <br />Proceeding to the agenda, Carol Nichols reported that Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) <br />volunteers has made 35 wreaths to date contributing $63.00 to the holiday decorating effort. Attendees <br />contributed an additional $52.00 Carol noted at the end of the meeting. Working with Steve Nemeth <br />from the Park Department she said the wreaths would be placed on veteran's graves on Monday and <br />Tuesday November 25th and 26" from 1:00 to 4:00. Volunteers are welcome. <br />This led to a discussion about how many veterans' graves were identified and marked. She said DAR <br />volunteers would be working with Deb Kuehn and others to refine the data base. <br />Toni Cook made a short presentation relating the efforts of two other cemeteries to improve security. <br />The first example was the Hebrew Orthodox Cemetery in Mishawaka. They tried motion detectors; but <br />found there were frequent false alarms. Solar powered were ineffective for the purpose. Signage both <br />no trespassing and noting the presence of security camera, though "dummy' camera were mounted. All <br />in all vandalism has decreased. <br />Another approach was to send neighborly "Crime Watch" letters to everyone in a three block radius. <br />Tim Scott, Vice- Chair, noted there are two neighborhood organizations ringing the cemetery that he <br />would alert to the restoration efforts. <br />The other cemetery Toni Cook cited was the New Carlisle Cemetery which had dusk to dawn lights <br />installed in 1999. <br />Toni also referenced a book entitled Graveyard Preservation Primer. The comprehensive book is <br />available for purchase online from Assn. of Gravestone Studies. <br />The next agenda item was an update from Deb Kuehn on her GIS mapping efforts. She has created a <br />database of those buried in the cemetery and has been able to link them with a map allow locational <br />